Abstract

The devolved governance structure in Kenya places the provision of agricultural sector services such as extension at the local units. However, farmers’ awareness on this aspect and where services are available remains limited and often, there is confusion. In order to provide clarity and enhance the understanding of extension service delivery, this study sought to characterize farmers’ awareness of agricultural extension devolution and analyze factors that influence their awareness. Data was collected in Meru County using semi-structured questionnaires through face-to-face interviews on a representative multi-stage sample of 288 farmers. A binary logit model was applied to analyze the determinants of farmers’ awareness. Slightly less than half of the respondents indicated that they were aware of agricultural extension devolution. The factors that were found to significantly enhance awareness are attendance to farmer field days, land tenure security, income and education.

Key words: Extension-devolution, farmers, awareness, Kenya.